I was starting to write a diary about our diseased nation.
I was trying to come to terms with the idea that as a nation we are fixated on murdered white chicks.
Chandra Levy, Natalee Hollaway, now the wailing hyena Rita Cosby is flailing about each evening on the brutal rape and murder of a young New Yorker.
This is what America loves.
Our diseased nation.
Then I read about a talk Kurt Vonnegut gave at Ohio State University the other day. Things started to click.
Our president.
"Well," says Vonnegut, "I just want to say that George W. Bush is the syphilis president."
I suppose it must all emanate from the top.
Plain talk.
In an age dominated by hype and sex, neither Moore nor Vonnegut seems a likely candidate to rock a campus whose biggest news has been the men's and women's basketball teams' joint assault on Big Ten championships.
But maybe there's more going on here than Fox wants us to think.
Quiet brilliance.
Vonnegut takes an easy chair across from Prof. Manuel Luis Martinez, a poet and teacher of writing. He grabs Martinez and semi-whispers into his ear (and the mike) "What can I say here?"
Martinez urges candor.
"Well," says Vonnegut, "I just want to say that George W. Bush is the syphilis president."
The students seem to agree.
"The only difference between Bush and Hitler," Vonnegut adds, "is that Hitler was elected."
"You all know, of course, that the election was stolen. Right here."
One of the great literary genuises of the 20th century.
The students are hushed with the prospect of the final appearance of America's greatest living novelist. Alongside Mark Twain and Ben Franklin, Will Rogers and Joseph Heller and a very short list of immortal satirists and storytellers, there stands Kurt Vonnegut, author of SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE and SIRENS OF TITAN, CAT'S CRADLE and GOD BLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER, books these students are studying now, as did their parents, as will their children and grandchildren, with a deeply felt mixture of gratitude and awe.
Nobody tonight seems to think they were in for a detached, scholarly presentation from a disengaged academic genius coasting on his incomparable laurels
A bleak future indeed.
"We have people in this country who are richer than whole countries," he says. "They run everything.
"We have no Democratic Party. It's financed by the same millionaires and billionaires as the Republicans.
"So we have no representatives in Washington. Working people have no leverage whatsoever.
The end of the world? Many days it certainly seems like we're heading in that direction.
"I'm trying to write a novel about the end of the world. But the world is really ending! It's becoming more and more uninhabitable because of our addiction to oil.
Purveyors of death and despair.
Things have gotten so bad, he says, "people are in revolt again life itself."
Our economy has been making money, but "all the money that should have gone into research and development has gone into executive compensation. If people insist on living as if there's no tomorrow, there really won't be one.
The truth about our awful economy. Our diseased society.
"There are no factories any more. Where are the jobs supposed to come from? There's nothing for people to do anymore. We need to ask the Seminoles: `what the hell did you do?'' after the tribe's traditional livelihood was taken away.
Answering questions written in by students, he explains the meaning of life. "We should be kind to each other. Be civil. And appreciate the good moments by saying `If this isn't nice, what is?'
Nonsensical, bullshit government.
"You're all perfectly safe, by the way. I took off my shoes at the airport. The terrorists hate the smell of feet.
The war in Iraq.
As for making money, "war is a very profitable thing for a few people. Jesus used to be so merciful and loving of the poor. But now he's a Republican.
Our economy?
"Our economy today is not capitalism. It's casino-ism. That's all the stock market is about. Gambling.
Psychic strength.
The greatest peace, Vonnegut wraps up, "comes from the knowledge that I have enough. Joe Heller told me that.
Thank you. Bless you, Kurt Vonnegut.
You can read more here:
http://peaceandjustice.org/...